Carothers, Wallace Hume (1896-1937), was an American chemist. His work, which included the catalytic reduction of organic compounds, led to the production of nylon and the first synthetic rubber. Carothers was born in Burlington, Iowa. He received a Ph.D. degree from the University of Illinois in 1924 and taught there until 1926. He then taught at Harvard University until 1928, when he became a research chemist with the DuPont Company in Wilmington, Delaware.